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Hikes · McBride & Robson Valley · Robson Valley

Upper Goat River Cable Car

A short section of the historic Goat River corridor that reaches a cable-car crossing, with a remote forest-road approach.

Sources reviewed . This is a research date, not a trail inspection.

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The locations GPX contains sourced points with their recorded roles. It contains no trail track or connecting route.

Distance
7 kmRound trip
Elevation gain
Not establishedCumulative ascent for this outing has not been established.
Walking time
Not published
Difficulty
Moderate

Map & elevation

Opening the map…

Elevation profile

A full-route elevation profile is not available yet.

A reusable trail line has not yet been verified for this outing. Any location pin shows the published location described above; it does not draw the hike or establish a navigable approach.

Getting there & parking

  1. From Highway 16 west of McBride, take Goat River Forest Service Road to approximately kilometre 13.

  2. Use the right-hand branch to the eastern Upper Goat trailhead. McBride Tourism specifies a high-clearance approach.

Full access notes

Turn off Highway 16 onto Goat River Forest Service Road about 37 km west of McBride, not east; the trail steward resolves the conflicting tourism-page wording. Follow the road to the right-hand fork at approximately kilometre 13, the eastern start of the Upper Goat route near the Goat–Milk confluence. The tourism guide recommends high clearance. Confirm road and bridge condition with the steward before departure.

Map position: 53.42468, -120.71032 · start point of published trip track (parking unverified). Embedded trip-map feature 'GoatRiverTrail': first recorded coordinate [-120.71032, 53.42468]. Point extracted from the original public trip map. A track start is evidence of where recording began, not certification of parking, legal access, road suitability or the complete route.

On the trail

  1. Cross the Milk River logging bridge and follow the Goat River upstream to the cable-car location.

  2. For this day outing, use the cable car as the turnaround landmark. The published material does not confirm that the mechanism is currently operational; using it is not necessary merely to reach the near-bank turnaround.

Full route notes

From the upper trail start, cross the Milk River on the described logging bridge, then follow the Goat River upstream toward the cable car. The steward places the crossing roughly 4 km along this upper approach, while the tourism day-hike listing gives about 7 km return; those descriptions do not establish an identical measured start and turnaround. Visit the cable-car area and return along the known route if the installation or river conditions are unsuitable. Crossing the Goat is not necessary simply to view the destination. The cable car has moving pulleys that can trap fingers, and its current inspection status was not established. Continuing farther enters the multi-day route and adds numerous unbridged crossings.

The way back

Retrace to the eastern trailhead. Tourism gives 7 km return, while the steward brochure describes about 4 km from the Milk River bridge to the cable car. The start points differ, so verify the selected parking rather than treating both figures as one measured track.

Conditions & seasons

Season-specific access has not been established in this guide. Read the dated notices and original land-manager information before choosing a departure date.

These are dated research notes. Open the trip planner for current available weather and advisory feeds; no alert found does not establish that a trail or road is open.

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Camping & overnight plans

The longer historic Goat River route has published camp stages, but no specific maintained overnight site was verified for this short cable-car outing. Choose a documented camp on the current route brochure if combining the walk with an overnight trip.

Photos of Upper Goat River Cable Car

A photograph with confirmed reuse permission has not yet been added to this guide.

Original photo galleries

These galleries stay on their photographers’ original websites.

Take this guide with you

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Full trip packDirections, planning notes & available mapsTopographic mapPublished locations; no trail lineSave offline guideDownload a copy to your device
Sources, dates & research notes

Descriptions are written for this guide from the linked evidence. Source review dates, published reports and field observations can differ. Photographs and route lines retain their own attribution and reuse terms.

  1. https://mcbridetourism.ca/adventure-outdoor/hiking/ (opens original source)
  2. https://hiking.princegeorge.tech/goat-river-trail-bc/ (opens original source)
  3. https://fraserheadwaters.org/index.php/trails/ (opens original source)
  4. https://fraserheadwaters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Goat-River-Finished-inside-of-Brochure-the-very-last-one.pdf (opens original source)
Details still being researched
  • Numeric gain is not published by the tourism source.

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